


The North Pole Initiative

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Immediate Family [9]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2847992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So the UN created a declaration, the North Pole Initiative, stating that only children under the age of 18 would receive gifts from Santa’s sack.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The North Pole Initiative

**Author's Note:**

> The awesome thing about having so many kid fic universes in my head is that this time of the year can be full of stories. Merry Christmas.

“Daddy, daddy.” Penelope knocked, opened the study door, and skipped into the room.

“Yes, kitten?” Dave looked up from his desktop.

“I have to talk to you about something super-duper important.”

“That sounds serious. Shall we sit on the couch?”

“OK.” 

Penelope hopped up on the couch. Dave got up from his chair and went over to join her. She looked at him and smiled. Penelope always had a ton of questions about a million different things. She never liked to disturb Dave when he was writing but sometimes it was hard to sit on the big questions. Erin worked late; she’d just been home for a half hour. Penelope knew how tired she could be when she worked late.

“So tell me what's so super-duper important.”

“Well, my school bestie Gina said that Santa Claus might not be real.” Penelope said.

“What's a school bestie?” Dave asked.

“We’re best friends at school.”

“You're not best friends anywhere else?”

“Daddy,” Penelope dragged out the word. “I need you to focus.”

“Right.” Dave pretended to screw his head on, which always got a laugh from his eight year old. “I'm focused.”

“So Gina said that Santa might not be real. That’s not true, right?”

“Why would Gina think something like that?”

“She says on all the commercials grownups go shopping for gifts. Her parents go to the mall and buy stuff so if they do that then what’s left for Santa to bring down the chimney. I thought about it for a long, long time Daddy. She could be right. I don’t want to think she is.”

“Hmm.” Dave rubbed his goatee as he thought about how to handle this. “I didn’t know that you and I would have to talk about this so soon. It’s a very delicate conversation Penelope so I'm going to need you to listen carefully, OK?”

“OK.” She nodded but Penelope felt a lump growing in her throat. Her palms were sweaty so she wiped them on her purple tights.

“The truth is that Santa Claus...is 150% real. Now that we have that out of the way, here comes the complicated part.”

“I can handle it, Daddy.” She grinned, happy that her fears weren’t confirmed. “I'm really smart.”

“When you see adults in the mall at Christmastime they are buying presents. They're buying presents for other adults.”

“But why when Santa brings presents?”

“A long, long time ago there was an event called World War II.” Dave replied. “After it ended and the good guys won, everyone went back to their countries to live in peace. The most amazing thing happened called the baby boom. Men and women had been separated for so long that they all wanted to start families immediately. Lots and lots and lots of babies were born.”

“The stork’s wings must’ve been tired.” Penelope said.

“Well there is more than one stork so everything worked out. Anyway, because there were so many more kids in the world there was no way Santa would be able to give presents to them and all their parents. So Santa went to the UN and asked for a declaration.”

“What's a declaration, Daddy?”

“It just means a big announcement.” He replied. “Santa went to the United Nations in New York and declared that from that Christmas forward only children would receive gifts from his sack. All adults would have to fend for themselves. But he didn’t say it to be cruel; the elves were already extremely busy. 

“Santa never wanted any child to miss out on a gift because the elves was working on something for an adult. So the UN created a declaration, the North Pole Initiative, stating that only children under the age of 18 would receive gifts from Santa’s sack. Two years later another piece was added to the declaration saying that it was OK for Santa to bring gifts in his sack for any special adult.”

“Special how?” Penelope asked.

“If they have mental or physical challenges that sometimes prevent them from doing what other adults do. So that’s why adults go to the mall to buy gifts.”

“Is this true?” Penelope raised an eyebrow when she asked.

“Of course it’s true.”

“But were you there?”

“I'm not that old kiddo but it’s definitely true. The North Pole Initiative was gonna expire in 1999, to coincide with the return of Hong Kong to China. It was renewed in the spring of that year; Santa was interviewed in the _New York Times_.”

“Santa was in the newspaper?”

“Oh yeah.” Dave nodded. “He’s not one for excessive press but it was important to remind children and special adults that the agreement would continue to be honored.”

“I knew he was real. I don’t blame Gina, its true what she said. It’s OK if I tell her what you told me, right?”

“Absolutely. You guys have plenty of years left to enjoy Santa’s generosity.”

“Thanks Daddy.” Penelope grinned.

“That’s what I'm here for.” Dave said. “Whenever you have the tough questions you can always ask Mom and me. We’ll do our best to tell you everything you need to know.”

He hugged her close when Penelope jumped in his arms. There would be a time, not so far from this moment, when all of the kids were too old for the stories their parents told them. A time would come when Derek wouldn’t pray for The Force at night when he said his prayers and Penelope wouldn’t believe in Santa. Emily would someday recognize that boys were favored in certain fields and possibly choose not to pursue something she exceled at. Hotch was a young white male so the world was his oyster. That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t face his own obstacles and need his parents’ guidance.

“It’s almost bedtime.” Dave said as Penelope jumped out of his arms and got up from the couch.

“I know. Christmas is in a week, Santa is gonna get me what I asked for, isn’t he?”

“I'm sure he will since you’ve been a good girl.”

“I've been super-duper good!” she exclaimed.

“Then you should be very happy come Christmas morning.”

“OK. Bye Daddy.”

“See ya, kitten.”

Penelope skipped out of the room, closing the door halfway behind her. Dave smiled as he sat back and crossed his arms. He was thankful that he was a writer and could come up with stories pretty quickly if need be. That one was so good he even shocked himself. He got up and went back over to his computer. 

Opening a second Word document, Dave began to type it out. He had to make sure he had it somewhere just in case Penelope had more questions later. Forgetting everything he told her would be bad. The eight year old had a mind like a steel trap. Dave hadn’t for quite some time.

***

“Mommy, are you busy?”

Penelope stood in the doorway of her parents’ bedroom. Erin was sitting yoga style in the middle of the bed. The dogs, Mudgie and Scruff, were relaxing a few feet away. Her eyes were closed and she was just breathing. Penelope thought she was meditating. This was something that started just recently to help with the stress of working for the FBI. Erin’s meditation time was really important but Penelope wanted to talk.

“I'm just finishing up, sweetie.” Erin took a deep breath through her nose, exhaling through her mouth. She opened her eyes and turned to her youngest daughter. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for bed? You have school in the morning.”

“I just have one super-duper important question.” Penelope came in and got up on the bed with Erin.

“What is it?”

“I asked Daddy if Santa was real because my school friend Gina said he might not be cuz grownups shop at the mall for presents. Daddy said that Santa is real and grownups shop at the mall because they have to buy presents for other grownups. He said Santa went to the UN and now he only gives presents to kids and special adults cuz of something called the baby boom. It was all in the newspaper.”

“So what’s your question?” Erin asked.

“Is that true?”

“Of course it is.” She nodded.

“Really?”

“Really, really. Santa had to go to the UN because nearly all countries are represented there. So they could hear the speech together. He’s very busy throughout the year preparing for one night. That doesn’t leave him a lot of time for traveling outside the North Pole.”

“OK.” Penelope said. “I asked for a hedgehog for Christmas.”

“I just bet you did.” Erin kissed her forehead. “Do you want a story before bed?”

“Yes!” The little girl nodded and smiled.

“Alright. You go and put on your pajamas and pick out a book. I’ll be in there in a few minutes.”

Erin watched her run out of the room and down the hall. Santa and the UN, she would make Dave tell her all about that later. As long as Penelope still believed then they were good. An eight year old should still believe in Santa and all his magic. Life force fed you tablespoons of reality fast enough.

The first anniversary of Erin’s accident was just a few days away. This past year had been a roller coaster ride for her. A husband, four kids, two dogs, and an FBI job were not easy to juggle. Some days she thought she might be pretty lousy at most of it. The kids were there to reassure Erin that she was doing just fine. And Dave always had her back no matter what. As husbands went, he was a pretty good one.

Her kids were truly amazing though. They were four vastly different personalities that never failed to keep Erin on her toes. Penelope’s Santa questions were just the tip of the iceberg on any given day. Life in their house was never dull. That was the way they all liked it.

***


End file.
